


Late Nights

by Saintstone



Category: Original Work
Genre: 2nd Person, Gen, Late work, Nighttime, Office, afraid of the dark, crunch time
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-09-23
Updated: 2020-09-23
Packaged: 2021-03-08 00:21:08
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,130
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/26606659
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Saintstone/pseuds/Saintstone
Summary: It's late night, you're exhausted and still working on a project all alone in the office - or are you?





	Late Nights

Here you are again stuck in the office for the fourth time this week, into your third cup of coffee in the last two hours stuck on the same one problem of your project with zero of your other coworkers hanging about. Everyone’s gone home to their families but here you are working late again going over the whole damn thing even though the project leader told you it was fine but no, you have to have it perfect don’t you? Part of you feels you could just heed their advice and go home but that would make those long hours feel like a waste of time and you wouldn’t want anyone else to agree with you on that.

You think it’s been another hour already but you can’t be certain for sure. The clock in the project room has been out of sync for some time and even when you tried to fix it the other day it just desynced on its own. It’s probably a mechanical problem or something and it’s not your job to fix it. There’s another clock outside in the employee cubicle jungle but you can barely see it through the blinders of the room you’re in and even then it’s dark out there. The plan was that in another hour you could get yourself another cup of coffee since, you know, you can’t be that unhealthy and just chug it constantly.

Well there’s a problem...you drank the last of the coffee in the project room. There’s more coffee in the break room at least so you don’t immediately despair. You grab your things; your phone, keys, wallet and jacket also your mug of course. You’re the only one here and you figure this won’t take very long but you gained a bit of paranoia with leaving your stuff around as you never overcame your tendency to just lose things.

You fling open the door and, well, it’s a lot darker than you thought it would be. Maybe the light from the project room makes it seem darker but regardless it’s pretty creepy. Also quiet, incredibly quiet. Nonetheless you make the journey to the break room, dodging all the familiar obstacles you’ve become accustomed to; Janet’s chair that she never fully pushes in, the printer that decides to work when it feels like it, the misaligned protruding cubicle walls people tend to bump into daily. You make it to the break room and press the light toggle - yes light toggle, because in an attempt to “be green” corporate made the novel decision to use these new energy-saver lights that turn themselves off after a few minutes. Corporate says it helps but you figure it’s just their way of telling us we’re taking too long on our breaks. You amuse yourself with a bit of that corporate gripe, forgetting why you came here for a second but snapping out of it just as fast. There aren’t many options of coffee in the room and they’re all mostly low quality but whatever, you just want the caffeine in your blood flowing again.

The filter is set, the water is full and the coffee grounds in place. While you wait, you take a look through the threshold of the break room back to the jungle and yeah it’s still giving you the creepy feeling. You can’t help but stare, as if the darkness is beckoning you, but the longer you stare the more you get this sense that something really is trying to lure you in, to get you...and then the light goes out. Flailing like a madman you slam your hand at the wall scouring for the light toggle till you find it and mash it repeatedly. What gives? You weren’t here that long right? Or on second thought you kind of did just waste a bunch of time idling around and you really shouldn’t. You still have all that work to do. You grab your coffee, head to the entrance and...just stand there. It’s pretty eerie isn’t it, how you can just see where the light of the room ends and the darkness stretching till the light from the project room meets it. You haven’t realized it yet but you’ve been pressing the toggle over and over perhaps because you believe it resets the light timer and you’re starting to feel uneasy about anything outside this room.

You take a deep breath and tell yourself on the count of three you’ll go. One - two - three! And...you’re still there, not having moved and still pressing the toggle. You tell yourself okay this time you’ll go. One-two - and...you hesitate on that three. Okay no now seriously get it together. You’re wasting even more time now and your coffee is getting cold. With your arm extended you try to keep your right hand on the toggle as you try to push yourself into the dark. With one last push you pull your arm back and prepare to cross the border where the light ends and as you take the first step - the light turns off! Toggling it doesn’t reset the timer! In a hurried power walk you push through the same route as before, nearly bumping into the poorly placed cubicle walls. As you get to the project room you slam the door closed behind you. Relieved you sit back onto your chair, empty your pockets and relax for a second.

That’s good, you made it. Bad news is that you seem to have spilled some of your coffee on yourself. Worse news is that you forgot to put any sugar or creamer into your coffee. The coffee is too bitter and you can’t even hide the low quality taste from it. The thought of going back to the break room crosses your mind for all but a second after you peek out the blinders. In your paranoia you close them and somehow the room now looks even brighter. Whatever then, you just need the energy so this is just another thing you’ll have to suffer. You chug the coffee down, recoiling from the bitterness, and get back to work not realizing the huge mistake you just made.

You knew better but you just had to do it. You drank bitter, black coffee too quickly on an empty stomach and it was your fourth cup no less. That evil feeling in your stomach has been brewing for the last several minutes and clenching your behind isn’t helping. You brace yourself, clench harder than you’ve clenched since, and try to quell it but your chair is becoming more uncomfortable by the minute, your nausea builds, and you can’t help but wonder why you’re so stupid sometimes. You can’t take it anymore, you have to make it to the toilets. Only problem is that it’s on the other side of the cubicle jungle. Your chair is making things worse so you get up and start pacing about trying to psych yourself up since the longer you take the worse it’s getting. Well there are two options; you either soil yourself or you get consumed by whatever the darkness harbors. Remembering that you are, yet again, being completely stupid with your paranoia and with the powerful motivation of something trying to crawl out of you, you bolt out of the project room.

On the way to the restrooms, chairs are bumped into, papers knocked around, you panic a little...and then a lot. At this rate you probably won’t need the toilets. You feel something begin to creep on you but you thrash a little and dash into the restrooms. Closing the door behind you, you turn on the lights and sigh in relief, but a quick pain in your stomach reminds you why you are here. As you relieve yourself, you scout about the stall you’re in and you come upon a shocking revelation. You’re in the women’s restroom. Why does it matter right? You’re the only one here. Sure you’re embarrassed but just keep it to yourself and all is good. You take deep breaths and relax. You’re drifting...slowly drifting...and then the lights turn off.

In a panic, you pull up your pants, throw open the stall door and trudge to the light almost tripping over in your attempt. What kind of greedy corporate slugs would put those damn lights in the bathrooms as well? Unfortunately that’s not your only reason to be cursing though. In the midst of your colorful language you realize that you weren’t exactly done and you kind of, sort of, pulled your pants up. You’re done...just done. Doesn’t matter if the darkness takes you, you’re just going to clean yourself up and head home, screw everything else you’re done. While you clean yourself up and mentally prepare for your exodus, you realize you left all your stuff back in the project room.

Here you are soiled, exhausted, frustrated, filthy and just done with it all. You’re going to march into the project room, evil lurking in the darkness be damned, grab your stuff and go. Alright no more being paranoid and cowardly! Somehow braver and more alert than before, you burst out the restroom into the cubicle jungle and all that new found energy didn’t last long. It’s dark, darker than you remember and even the light from the project room is dimmer since the closed blinders keep most of it in. As you recoil from the shock the restroom door closes behind you and now you truly are in the darkness.

Well here goes nothing. Slowly but surely you creep through the jungle with an ever increasing feeling of being watched and followed. You do your best to not turn around or pay attention to anything but the road ahead of you but such tunnel-vision leads to accidents, accidents like smashing into someone’s desk, spilling whatever was on their table onto the floor and tumbling down with it, like you just did landing on your back. As you attempt to pick yourself up, you can’t help but stare back from where you came and are met with such a pitch darkness that you feel it’s reaching out to choke you. You thrash about making such a mess of things but you manage to kick yourself back up and as you slam into the project room door knocking it open. You snatch your things and take off running out the door. Immediately something grabs you by your right arm and you begin to thrash about in panic. In the ensuing chaos you knock over a cubicle wall but manage to escape the trappers hold by discarding your jacket. However, the momentum of escape sends you smashing into Janet’s chair but it breaks your fall at least. You push yourself using the chair, kicking as fast as you could and riding it as close to the exit as you can before it loses balance and you fall. Thankfully you’re close enough that you push through the doors, make your way to the next exit to the outside into the parking lot and hoof it to your car.

Never before have you been thankful that you parked under a light even if birds nesting on them would often mess up your car. You unlock it, get inside and check back at the exit. No one, or nothing, is following you. You try to relax a bit, breathing slowly, taking pauses, but before you know it you’ve passed out.

Suddenly you’re woken up by some knocks on your window. It’s light outside, the sun is out and you can tell it’s past the early morning already. You check outside to see it’s your boss staring at you with a very serious face. He gestures to you to come out and tells you to meet him in his office. Entering back into the cubicle jungle you notice a few coworkers staring at you, some with giggling smiles, Janet in particular gives you a piercing glare. As you sit in the boss’s office he turns his computer screen to face you. It’s security footage...where you can be seen freaking out and running through the office knocking things around, spilling coffee everywhere, entering the womans’ restroom, getting your jacket caught on a cubicle wall and thrashing around in a panic and smashing up Janet’s chair. Yeah...

Look at this way at least. You’re being sent home to take the day off, sure the office is now limited to one coffee a day and sure the entire office is mad at you but at least this means you won’t have to work anymore late nights! Plus the boss said they’re switching back to regular light switches which is good because fuck those things.


End file.
